According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research “Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 – 2020” the global active pharmaceutical ingredients market was valued at USD 119.7 billion in 2013 and is anticipated to reach USD 185.9 billion by 2020, expanding at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2012, cancer was among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with approximately 14 million newly diagnosed cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths. Therefore, the oncology segment is expected to be fastest growing segment in the global API market. Moreover, most of the drugs in this segment contain High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (HPAPIs) which itself is a rapidly growing segment in the global API market. The market growth of this segment will be particularly higher than other segments owing to loss of patent protection for blockbuster drugs such as Herceptin (Roche), Arimidex (AstraZeneca), Xeloda (Roche), Abraxane (Celgene), Temodar (Merck & Co.) and Vidaza (Celgene) between 2010 and 2014.

The global active pharmaceutical ingredients market is segmented on the basis of therapeutic area into non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), oncology drugs, anti-diabetic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, central nervous system drugs, musculoskeletal drugs, and others. The overall API market is expected to witness substantial growth during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020, wherein oncology and central nervous system drugs segments would play a vital role. These segments are expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020. Cardiovascular drugs accounted for the largest market revenue share in 2013 due to the rising prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, sedentary lifestyle, and aging population. Bestselling products losing market exclusivity has been a common trend in all market segments, thus creating opportunities for generic products. This in turn increases the demand for APIs in particular therapeutics segments.

Currently, biological drugs are gaining importance in the treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes. These drugs are costlier due to challenging set of manufacturing requirements and difficult replication as against chemical APIs. Advancements in the production technology have enabled production of biosimilars that are not exact copies of innovator drugs, but highly comparable in terms of safety and efficacy. Europe has been the frontrunner in approving biosimilars, and the WHO has also set guidelines on similar lines of those set by the European Union. Regulatory pathways in the biosimilars space in different nations are evolving and this implies a great market opportunity ahead for the biopharmaceutical companies. Approval of the first biosimilar in the U.S. for filgrastim (2015) indicates opening up of the highly regulated U.S. market, which would further push the overall API market growth.